JERUSALEM — When the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, drew his red line on a cartoonish diagram of a bomb from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, he intended to illustrate in simple terms the point at which Iran’s uranium enrichment program must be stopped, at least in Israel’s view, to thwart a final sprint to a nuclear weapon.

Instead, the attention-grabbing performance seems to have created confusion in, of all places, Israel.

Mr. Netanyahu’s bomb was divided into sections marked 70 percent and 90 percent, representing the progress Iran has made, and is expected to make, toward amassing enough enriched uranium for a bomb, Israeli officials and experts said. Mr. Netanyahu drew his red line at 90 percent, asserting that the Iranians would be 90 percent along the way by next spring or summer.

But on Friday, Yediot Aharonot, a popular newspaper, published a drastically different interpretation. It assumed, erroneously, that Mr. Netanyahu had been referring not to progress made by Iran, but to actual percentages of uranium enrichment in his diagram, now known as the “Bibi Bomb,” a reference to Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname.

Much more at the link.

Whether Prime Minister Netanyahu meant that the Iranians were 70% on the way to being able to build an atomic bomb, or he was referring to 70% enrichment having been achieved, either is worrisome. Current guesstimates have Iran with a stockpile of uranium enriched to about 20% U235, which is considered weapons usable, for a crude bomb, but as the enrichment levels get lower, the amount needed to reach a critical mass grows very large. Uranium enriched to 85% U235 is considered weapons grade. However, once 20% enrichment has been achieved, further enrichment to 90% does not take that long.

Haaretz claimed that the Prime Minister’s speech was meant much more for the Israeli public:

In his wildest fantasy, after going up to the podium to deliver his speech at the United Nations General Assembly and voicing predictable warnings about the Jewish historical plight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely pictured himself pulling out a note from his blazer and reading the dramatic message:

“IDF Chief just informed me of the successful completion of an operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Our soldiers are on the way home with no reported casualties, holding enriched Uranium Iran has harbored in recent years. The threats on Israel, the Gulf States and the global economy have been removed. I want to take this opportunity to thank all IDF combatants for their remarkable achievement, and join me in applauding them.”

But this wild dream did not come true. IDF soldiers remained in their bases, and the enrichment of uranium persists. Netanyahu settled for the thick red marker, which he used to draw a red line on a bomb diagram he brought from home, and tried to explain to the international community where and when to stop Iran before it’s too late.

Placing Iran at the top of his agenda serves Netanyahu’s political goals well ahead of a campaign cycle in which he will be running for his third term as Israel’s premier. He is perceived by the public as the only statesman capable of confronting the Iranian challenge, and his focus on the issue has only catapulted him to the top of the polls.

Netanyahu is, as usual, attentive to his public, catering his UN speech on Thursday to polls at home, which indicate that Israelis are concerned about Iran, but think the U.S. is the one that should take the country on, not Israel. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have not succeeded in convincing public opinion that the IDF can handle the Iranian threat on its own. The public has spoken: Not now and not alone.

Netanyahu’s speech was precisely suited to this position: He called on the international community to determine a red line on Iran – or in other words to threaten it with war – and did not proclaim that Israel would go it alone if “the world” disappoints it. Netanyahu wanted to sound resolute, just like viewers at home love, but without barking up a tree he will have a hard time climbing down from.

Mr Benn states that the Israeli public prefer that the United States take the lead on this issue, and are not inclined to support a go-it-alone position on the part of Israel.

But when facing an existential threat, Israel may not be able to afford to rely on others. The generation which survived the Holocaust is mostly gone now, and the few survivors remaining who were older than toddlers at the time are at least in their seventies, but the history is clear: when the Jews of Europe depended on other people for their survival, half of them were slaughtered, and the other half would have been had the Third Reich won the war.
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Cross posted on THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL.
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Added (admin): Also see Dana Pico’s Binyamin Netanyahu: “Do you want these fanatics to have nuclear weapons?”

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[This article was originally published on the Fourth of July, 2011. I am republishing it today, the Fourth of July, 2012. As the election cycle heats up, the choices Americans make this year will decide whether the USA survives as a Free country or descends fully into Tyranny. Brought to the front page on September 29, 2012.]

As we celebrate American Independence, it is important to know what it means and what it doesn’t mean. It is important to know what to fight for and what to fight against. After 236 years of American Independence, we are once again in a fight for the survival of the United States. While militant Islam is a grave threat from without, an even graver enemy from within is threatening to destroy the United States. That enemy is Communism, Socialism, Progressivism.

Communism, Socialism and Progressivism is essentially the same thing. Oh, there may be differences between them, but the differences are slight. As the sassafras tree has as many as four different leaf patterns on the same tree, Communism, Socialism, Progressivism and Fascism are all essentially from the same tree. Fascism may be considered the most unique of the four, but like the other three, Fascism is dependent on a large, centralized, and omnipotent government.

A look at the Communist Party USA Constitution provides some scary stuff. It is definitely totalitarian in form and function. And it is dependent on class envy and class warfare. The Communist Party USA Constitution precludes individual Liberty and mandates a loss of liberty — within the document.

The document begins immediately with class warfare and class distinction and class identification. There is nothing “individual” about it.

The Communist Party USA is the party of and for the U.S. working class

The document very clearly spells out its aim, within the preamble.

Our party fights for jobs and economic security, … with socialism as our goal. Only through the abolition of the capitalist system and the socialist reorganization of society… We seek to build a socialist society…

Three calls for Socialism in the second paragraph of the preamble, with two declarations that Capitalism is to be destroyed. Communism and Socialism are two completely different things? Not so, according to the Communists’ own governing document.

Marxists have long hailed its progressive significance… This legacy gives us, the working class and its allies, the right and responsibility to build a new society. We advocate an expanded Bill of Rights to guarantee religious, political, and individual freedoms, but also freedom from poverty, hunger, joblessness, and racism.

Not only a tie to Progressivism in the third paragraph of the preamble but also a demand for Constitutional rights to not be poor, hungry, unemployed. Add in a Constitutional prohibition on racism. Now, that would destroy the First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech and of the Press and of Association.

Paragraphs 4, 5, 6 of the preamble hit the class warfare gong some more, with ties into Progressivism and more attacks on capitalism. But there is something even more insidious in paragraph 6.

In the spirit of working-class internationalism, the Communist Party builds the closest bonds with Communist and Workers Parties throughout the world.

There is zero interest in National Independence and an overarching aim for One World Socialist government. Remember, the very beginning of the Communist preamble said Socialism was its goal; therefore, a single Socialist government is the Communist goal. That means the destruction of the US and everything it stands for.

Founded in Chicago in 1919, the Communist Party of the United States has an outstanding history in the struggles for peace, democratic rights, racial and gender equality, economic justice, union organization, and international solidarity.

“Economic justice” is a euphemism for taking from the rich and spreading it around. In other words, class warfare. And there’s that “union organization” thing. The Communists are very strong on unions (which, not coincidentally, are destroying government budgets nationwide). You’ll see more of that later. And once again, the internationalism and rejection of national sovereignty.

Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 1:

The system of organization of the Communist Party is based upon the principle of democratic centralism, which means that decisions and policies are made through democratic procedures, and that once a final decision is made, all members are obligated to carry it out.

Centralized power. And no individual liberty. Everyone is required to work to fulfill the demands of the central power. No choice in the matter. Does that sound like the America you know? Does that sound like the America you want?

Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 3:

Collectivity is the basic style of work of the Party.

You work for the Collective. You are not an individual.

Article 2, Section 3, Paragraph 1:

All members, including those who disagree, are duty bound to explain, fight for and carry out such decisions, as long as they do not conflict with national policies and decisions.

Nobody has a choice. Individual Liberty is lost. If the Party says it, it must be obeyed. If you disagree with it, you have no choice but to fight for it and push it. Freedom is done. The Collective, the Party rules. They own you. Is that something you want? Or is that something to fight tooth-and-nail against?

Article 2, Section 3, Paragraph 2:

While the appeal is pending, the decision must nevertheless be carried out by all members of the Party.

So, you can take your problem up the Communist chain, closer to the omnipotent central power, but in the meantime, you are required to do that which you do not want to do. Because the Communist Party said so. No freedom; no individual Liberty; no individual identity.

Article 2, Section 3, Paragraph 3:

Once a final decision is made, no member, club, committee or leader has the right to violate the decision or to combine with others to conduct an organized struggle against the decision.

A grass-roots campaign to shift the Communist Party in a different direction is expressly forbidden. Everyone is mandated to march in lock-step with the Central Power. Further in this insidious document, the Party allows its members to voice their differences of opinion, but only within the Communist Party structure, never in public. And then, once the Elites at the Top make their decision, all differences of opinion are vanquished. March in lock-step. No individual Freedom. No individual Liberty.

As I said, I’d get back to the union thing.

Article 6, Section 5:

All Party members who are eligible must belong to their respective labor unions. If no union exists at a Party member’s place of employment, he or she shall strive to organize, or help to organize, a labor union whenever possible.

You have zero say in the matter. You are required to be a Union member. No freedom of choice, no individual Liberty, no individual Freedom. So, you are required to pay Union Dues. Oh, and further up, you are also required to pay Communist Party Dues. No choice, no freedom, no liberty.

I almost forgot. According to the Communist Party Constitution, if you are an “informer,” you get thrown out. What is an informer? That, in itself, is insidious. That means there are Communist Party secrets it doesn’t want the people to know about. That is a major danger to a free society.

There is nothing American about the Communist Party USA. But there is plenty that is anti-American.

American movements for social justice must of necessity adopt the internationalism of the socialist tradition.

Internationalism, One World Government, the end to National Sovereignty.

We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit…

Private profit… no more small business owners working to better their situations. It must be Collectivized.

We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources…

Internationalism, One World Government, take it away from those who have it and give it to those who don’t. You are not allowed to become too successful, to acquire for yourself too much stuff. It must be taken away from you and spread around.

A democratic socialist politics for the 21st century must promote an international solidarity… Democratic socialists are dedicated to building truly international social movements – of unionists, environmentalists, feminists, and people of color -that together can elevate global justice over brutalizing global competition.

More Internationalism, One World Government. National Sovereignty dies. Individual Liberty, individual Freedom, individual choice die. Power to the Unions! Power to the environmentalists (while whole swaths of rich farmland become dust bowls where nothing will grow)! “Competition” also known as the Free Market is the enemy of the Socialist.

In the United States, we must fight for a humane public policies that will provide quality health care, education, and job training and that redirect public investment from the military to much-neglected urban housing and infrastructure.

Does that sound familiar? Why, yes indeed. That is the cry of the Progressives. Socialized health care system with all its mandates and freedom-stripping. Pump more money into State-run education, where all the other money did nothing to improve educational outcomes (but private education, costing much less, outperforms State-run education). Deplete the National Defense. And that “much-neglected urban housing” sounds very familiar, as well. HUD wasting billions of dollars producing next to nothing. CRA causing the mortgage bubble.

Democratic socialists recognize that for individuals to flourish, a society must be grounded in the moral values and institutions of a democratic community that provides quality education and job training, social services, and meaningful work for all. Leaving the provision of such common needs to the private marketplace guarantees a starkly inegalitarian class system of access to opportunity.

The Free Market and private enterprise are to be banished and replaced by a central power that will distribute everything evenly among everyone. You cannot become wealthy by your own ingenuity because that would mean someone else doesn’t have as much as you. And that’s a bad thing. Doesn’t sound very American, does it? Doesn’t sound like individual Liberty or Freedom, does it? And there’s that class warfare, that class envy business again. Very Communist. Very Progressive.

A democratic commitment to a vibrant pluralist life assumes the need for a democratic,responsive, and representative government to regulate the market, protect the environment, and ensure a basic level of equality and equity for each citizen. In the 21st century, such regulation will increasingly occur through international, multilateral action.

Internationalism, One World Government, the loss of National Sovereignty, the loss of Individual Liberty. And “equity for each citizen” once again means you’re not allowed to have more stuff than the person living down the street. Ironic that this was put in the “Liberty” section, no?

As democratic socialists we are committed to ensuring that any market is the servant of the public good and not its master. Liberty, equality, and solidarity will require not only democratic control over economic life, but also a progressively financed, decentralized, and quality public sector. Free markets or private charity cannot provide adequate public goods and services.

Loss of individualism. Loss of Individual Liberty. Destroy the Free Market system. Pay lip-service to “decentralized” public sector, knowing full-well that an omnipotent Central Government must be created. And there’s that Progressivism again.

There is no difference between Communism, Socialism and Progressivism once all the masks are off. They all go to the same place: Loss of Liberty, loss of National Sovereignty, loss of the Free Market, loss of opportunity to become successful and better off than the lazy person down the street, complete loss of Freedom.

“The Fascist principle is Liberty in private, Obligation in public life. In his public capacity a man must behave as befits a citizen and a member of the State; his actions must conform to the interests of the State, which protects and governs him and guarantees his personal freedom. In private he may behave as he likes …

Every man shall be a member of the State, giving his public life to the State, but claiming in return his private life and liberty from the State, and enjoying it within the Corporate purpose of the State. ”

Oswald Mosley, British Union of Fascists

So the Fascists are part of the same tree with the Socialists, the Communists and the Progressives. The people are to be subservient to the all-powerful Government. Individualism, individual Liberty, individual Freedom is to be a thing of the past. And Fascism works great with the Socialist, Communist, Progressivist One World Government.

But that’s not what the United States is about. That’s not what the Founders fought and died to create and protect. That’s not what the Framers worked so hard to protect. And that’s why the Socialists, Communists, Progressives, Fascists all need to destroy all meaning in the US Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

This Independence Day, think on those things. Consider the grave circumstances and events of the past few years and the great peril the US is now facing from within. Shall you be one of the “Good men who do nothing” or shall you fight for America’s survival?

President Obama’s U.N. speech offered little confidence for those living in the direct firing line of an Iran, which may soon be armed with a nuclear weapon.For the people of Israel—and millions living in the Gulf states that lie in the shadow of Tehran—Obama’s address to the U.N. must have looked positively Carter-eqsue in tone and spirit. This was a milquetoast statement on Iran by the U.S. President, who projected a dangerous leading-from-behind mentality at a time when the free world needs bold U.S. leadership.

The Iranian nuclear crisis took up just two paragraphs toward the end of Obama’s speech—clearly not a priority issue for the President. In essence, Obama delivered the same message he’s delivered now for four years: that “America wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe that there…

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Ohio is a true bellwether state, with a very long trend of voting for the guy that eventually is declared the winner in Presidential elections. You will likely never see a D+5 or R+5 D/R/I electorate in Ohio, as the state trends a much narrower +/-2 with a strong Independent voice generally speaking. If you see a poll that declares Obama leads by 8 in Ohio, for instance, you can throw that poll in the garbage bin. That sort of outcome will never happen in Ohio. So, there’s this new poll that Nice Deb found, showing a neck-and-neck race with Obama ahead 45.2 to 44.3 (and always remember when an incumbent cannot reach 50 percent, especially this late in the season, that incumbent is in trouble). Sounds about right for bellwether Ohio in a tight election year, no?

But there’s more to that poll. Nice Deb points out the heavy skewing of the poll itself. The D/R/I gives Democrats a +10.3 advantage in bellwether Ohio to arrive at a +0.9 for Obama. Nice Deb asks why the completely out of touch with reality Democrat skew for the poll. That’s a very good question. But I have a different observation. In order for the poll to give Obama a +0.9, it had to skew in favor of Democrats by +10.3. The polling firm had to give a huge, unrealistic Leftward advantage just to get Obama up to a tie with Romney/Ryan in bellwether Ohio. That means, Romney/Ryan pretty much have Ohio in the bag. And, as I pointed out, Ohio has a very long track record of voting for the winner, thus, Romney/Ryan will win in November.

Candace Cameron-Bure is a beautiful woman, inside and out. I posted photos of her this year, alluding to one of the Holiest days of the year. That article will most likely be the most viewed article on this site this year, despite this being a political blog and this year being one of the most important political years in many decades. It was the case before the last couple days. It is much more the case now, as the last couple days added 1,000 views. So people are very much interested in her beauty.

But it’s her mind that is the most beautiful thing about her. She gave a Convocation address at Liberty University, which then posted it on YouTube in January of this year. In it, she discussed her own life and journey to living a true Christian life. She discussed how being a “good person” simply wasn’t good enough, and that she was herself in danger of Hell, but is no longer.

She’s a very good role model, someone to be looked up to and emulated as she shines the light on the One True God, coming out of a city and industry that promotes hedonistic libertine lifestyles. Shane made an excellent comment on my Candace photo article. “She has certainly aged with grace…I think what makes her so hot is what she doesn’t do….no r rated flops on her resume.” The reason why she doesn’t have any R-rated flops on her resume is because she refuses to do them. No movies glorifying immorality for her. She shared a passage from Scripture which convicted her. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 and 10.

9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

It is because of that and other information she learned that she quit being a “good person” and chose to live a life of Christ. And she won’t be swayed by the Democrat war on women or by Democrats (even elected Democrat women) calling her not a woman, due to her righteous, God-fearing life.

Yes, Candace Helaine Cameron-Bure has a very beautiful mind. And that’s what’s most important.

The Democrats are pushing this meme, as though it’s somehow a bad thing. Well, yup, he said it, and he told the absolute truth! He won’t ever convince the welfare malingerers and those dependent on government that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. He won’t ever persuade a 30 year old college student, one able to afford an expensive private school like Georgetown University, that she should be expected to buy her own birth control pills, and not depend on someone else to do it for her. He will never persuade those people who think that other people somehow owe them a living that they should take care of themselves. He will never convince the occupiers and the fleabaggers that they are responsible for their own lives and own success, and that they need to grow the [insert slang term for fornicate here] up.

And this is why the TEA Party exists, this is why so many working class people will vote Republican. We do our best to take care of ourselves, we do our best to be responsible for ourselves and our families, and we work damned hard to support ourselves and our families; we don’t have the time or the energy or the money to carry the fornicating malingerers on our backs!

The vast majority of conservatives wouldn’t have any problem at all paying taxes to help people less fortunate, if they were truly just unable to support themselves. But most of us get damned pissed off knowing that the welfare system in this country is loaded up not just with people who can’t work, but with people who won’t work.
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Cross posted on THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL.

We now have to look to foreign leaders to hear some common sense. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Meet the Press this morning, saying things that make sense. I’m surprised his comments weren’t cut.

Continuing his calls for the United States to join Israel in imposing “red lines” threatening military action if Iran continues to pursue weapons made from enriched uranium, Netanyahu told David Gregory that “Iran is guided by a leadership with an unbelievable fanaticism.”

“It’s the same fanaticism that you see storming your embassies today,” he added. “Do you want these fanatics to have nuclear weapons?”

He then lamented that some in the American press have vocalized opposition to Israel’s desired end to an Iranian nuclear program: “I mean I heard some people suggest, David — I actually read this in the American press — they said, ‘Well, you know, if you take action, that’s a lot worse than having Iran with nuclear weapons. Some have even said that Iran with nuclear weapons would stabilize the Middle East, stabilize the Middle East.”

“I think the people who say this have set a new standard for human stupidity,” he said of those opponents.

Bob Woodward made a very important observation on Meet the Press, that our intelligence information, that everyone’s intelligence information, is often not as accurate as they’d like to believe it is. The most well-known failure of intelligence was when the United States believed, wholeheartedly, that Iraq retained old, and was building new, chemical weapons in 2002, but it was hardly the only one. Mr Woodward stated that any claims that anyone knew, for certain, exactly how far along Iran was toward building nuclear weapons were foolish; their intelligence estimates might happen to be dead-on accurate, but they could also be very far off.

That, of course, brings up the very old military question: do you prepare for what you believe is the worst your enemies could do, or for what you believe they are most likely to do? For Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat, and the answer, for most intelligent people, would be that they must prepare for the worst Iran could do; if it turns out that they overprepared, then they will have wasted time and effort and money, but their nation will endure. If they decide to base their preparations on what they think their enemies are most likely to do, and they guess wrong, the consequences could be devastating.

And that is why, to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the notion that there is anything worse than an Iran armed with nuclear weapons “set(s) a new standard for human stupidity.” Armchair strategists who have the responsibility for nothing have the luxury of theorizing about what might or could or should or probably will or will not happen; the men with the actual responsibility of protecting their nations’ actual survival don’t have that luxury.
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Cross-posted on THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL.

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As the Mohammedan, anti-Christian, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish uprisings and terror attacks greatly increase such as the multiple attacks on US embassies and consulates on the anniversary of 9/11 and the greatly expanded attacks since; and as the US, under Obama, has shown great weakness in the face of the Mohammedan terrorists and even animosity toward Israel, it is again important to note that all this stuff was prophesied.

I cannot spell out the upcoming events any better than Professor Johan Malan did in March of 2011, so I’ll let him spell it out.

The Russo/Arab invasion of Israel

According to Ezekiel 38 and 39, various Arab countries will attack Israel under the leadership of Russia, in an effort to bring them to their knees and wipe Israel off the map. Gog, of the land Magog, (that is modern Russia in the land north of the Caucasus Mountains) will join forces with Persia (Iran), Togarmah (Turkey), Ethiopia, Libya, and Gomer (Germany or one or other East-European nation) to invade Israel. Other nations will also join them to form a very big and formidable power.

Israel’s enemies plan to obtain the participation of Russia for this big war. To Russia there is the benefit of interests in the Middle East oil fields. They would also want to prevent China from rendering military aid to the Arabs, should Russia itself refuse to do so. Although reluctantly, Russia will, according to the Bible, agree to participate in a war of annihilation against the Jewish state (Ezek. 38:4).

The war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 is steadfastly approaching. The Lord will reveal Himself in a very definite and unmistakable way through preventing this war (Ezek. 38:16). The sudden supernatural destruction of the invading forces by fire is clearly mentioned (Ezek. 39:4-6). There will also be a very big earthquake in Israel (Ezek. 38:19).

Russia, Israel and all the nations will recognise God because of this very clear supernatural intervention. That will bring about a major change in thinking as most of the peoples of the world, including Israel, have largely lapsed into agnosticism, materialism and humanism and consequently rejected, ignored or degraded the Triune God and His Word. Virtually all of them regard Christianity to be on an equal level with the pagan religions. In a typical postmodern fashion they view the religious statements and moral guidelines of the Bible as old-fashioned, irrelevant and obsolete.

With the supernatural destruction of Israel’s enemies, the nations will acknowledge that the God of Israel and the Bible is the true God who should be feared and worshipped. That will override atheism, agnosticism and secularism. There will however be such feeble knowledge of God that they will accept the wrong person, the Antichrist, as Christ and representative of God. He will exploit the nations’ veneration for supernatural signs and, together with the false prophet, present a spectacle of signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9-10; Rev. 13:12-14). Humanity will accept it in reverence and awe.

The signs and wonders of the Antichrist and false prophet will be so amazing, and the claim by the Antichrist that he is a descendant of King David who was sent to the world on behalf of all faiths, will sound so convincing, that even Israel will be deceived into accepting him as their promised Messiah (John 5:43). He will claim credit for the sudden termination of the threatening war in Israel, and that will overnight propel him to the position of prince of peace and unchallenged world leader. The Gentile nations will join Israel in concluding a seven-year treaty with him and recognise him as their leader. They will follow him in amazement (Rev. 13:3-4) and hail him for delivering humanity from a threatening third world war, averting a certain economic collapse, and restoring the ailing world economy and getting it back on track.

Where are Israel’s allies and defenders? Who will come to her side? The obvious answer is nobody will come to Israel’s aid because all have abandoned her. But Providence, the One True God, will indeed do so in a very obvious manner. Enter the Anti-Christ and False Prophet to take the credit, and the 7-Year Tribulation begins.

Look at what is happening in the Middle East, in Russia, in China, in Europe, and in the US. “Study to shew thyself approved.” End Times Prophecy will happen, and is happening right before your eyes.

MSNBC went out of its way to loudly declare its desire to have a Christian pastor charged with accessory to murder due to his non-violent exercising of his First Amendment rights, which MSNBC declared responsible for Muslim Brotherhood terrorists behaving like terrorists.

I think it’s an absolutely horrible thing, because what you have to understand — here we are on 9/11, remembering the attacks… and now we have had another attack on sovereign American soil, which is what a consulate and an embassy is. Our flag was torn down, it was burned, the radical Islamists’ flag was raised, and we have an American official that lost their life. And the first thing that comes out is that we’re going to apologize for something that a Christian, Coptic individual posted in a video on his Facebook site. So now, if we’re going to start eschewing our freedom of speech rights to apologize to people for these type of attacks, Greta, you’re only get even more of this. This is rewarding bad behavior, and I think you’re going to see this dovetail into other countries. … I think it’s a horrific response that we’re apologizing. We’re accepting the blame for this which means you’re going to feel more of this response. …

Spot-on. It is insane — insane – that we should feel the need to tiptoe around the tender feelings of violent, overzealous radical Islamists (or, as some in the MSM now seem to be oh-so-subtly calling them, “ultraconservative” Islamists — really, guys?). Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are human rights, and I don’t mean that like ‘universal healthcare’ is supposed to be a human right (which, by the way, it isn’t). They are undeniable, inalienable, universal rights — absolutely no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it — and for representatives of the United States to get all sheepish and showcase their willingness to be bullied on that point makes me extremely nervous, to say the least.

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our consulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a statement that was so outrageous many of us thought it must be a satire. The embassy actually apologized to the violent mob attacking us, and it even went so far as to chastise those who use free speech to “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (Funny, the current administration has no problem hurting the “religious feelings” of Catholics.)

But where is the president’s statement about this? These countries represent his much touted “Arab Spring.” How’s that Arab Spring working out for us now? Have we received an apology yet from our “friends” in the Muslim Brotherhood for the assault on our embassy?

It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.

– Sarah Palin

Is there any question, any question at all, why I endorsed a Palin/West Presidential ticket last year?

The Obama administration is absolutely an international disgrace to our nation. NBC is disgraceful. The mainstream media with its Left-Wing agenda — not bias but agenda — is a disgrace to our nation. MSNBC, with its anti-Constitutional, Socialist agenda, is an absolute disgrace to America, to journalism, to anything representing honorable values.

And if anyone holds any value whatsoever for the opinions or “journalism” coming out of MSNBC, that person is both a fool and an idiot, and cannot be considered to be a valuable contributing member to society.

Within five years of ratification of this Amendment to the US Constitution, the Federal Budget shall be balanced, and shall remain in Balance thereafter, using the same Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) mandated by the Federal Government for all Corporations. The Federal Budget Deficit must maintain an incremental and substantial annual reduction during the four years leading to Balance in the fifth year or prior.

Any and all new taxes must be approved by three fifths of each Branch of Congress and signed by the President in order for passage. Any and all tax increases must be approved by three fifths of each Branch of Congress and signed by the President in order for passage. If the President vetoes any Bill containing new or increased taxes, it shall be returned to Congress whereupon each Branch of Congress must pass such Bill by two thirds vote to override the President’s veto. If the President does not sign or veto a Bill containing new or increased taxes within ten days, it shall be deemed vetoed and each House of Congress must pass such Bill by two thirds vote to override the President’s veto.

In the event the Federal Budget is not in Balance, all salaries and expenses of all Federally elected officials and their staffs shall be zero until such a time as the Federal Budget is in Balance. All Federal non-military Government officials shall have their salaries reduced to zero until such a time as the Federal Budget is in Balance.

In the event Congress does not pass a Federal Budget by April 15 of each year, no other Legislation shall be discussed or passed until the Federal Budget is passed. Any and all Legislation passed during the time following April 15 and preceding the passage of the Federal Budget shall be deemed null and void.

That is, if you believe the notoriously partisan polling firm. And the notoriously partisan polling firm gets linked and quoted a lot, with a great many on the Left holding it as gospel. This notoriously partisan polling firm which the Left love has stated that Obama leads Romney by 5 in Ohio.

Professor Jacobson has asked why Conservatives even bother talking about Progressive Party Pollers (also known as Public Policy Polling or PPP) due to their notorious shady poll weighting. My answer to that question is in the lines of “you know the Left is in trouble when even they say it”. But this is not the case. Not this time. I previously noted PPP’s heavy weighting of its polls for Democrats in stark contrast to reality. Well, they’re doing it again.

The point about independents gets to the heart of the issue with this poll. The sample (pdf) has a D/R/I split of 41/37/22. The 37% that Republicans get in this survey matches their 2010 midterm turnout, which had a D/R/I of 36/37/28. The 41% for Democrats significantly exceeds that turnout, and also exceeds the 2008 election’s 39/31/30 exit polling that produced the five-point margin of Obama victory in the election.

There is a reason Ohio is a multi-generational Bellwether state. It’s because Ohio tends to have three-way parity in its voter turnout. But PPP is reporting out its polling as if Ohio were a Leftist bastion. And everyone who knows Ohio like I do, having lived there for 44 years, knows Ohio is nowhere near as Democrat as PPP claims. At all. Ohio will be less Democrat this year than four years ago. You can bank on that.

In 2008, Obama won Ohio by 5 points (just like this current PPP poll says he leads now). Obama also won the very large independent vote by 8 points. While PPP allows that Romney leads Independents by 2 points (a 10-point swing against Obama), PPP claims Obama maintains the same 5 point edge overall. Why? Because, while Republicans have a higher voter registration percentage today than in 2010 and Democrats have a lower voter registration percentage today than in 2008, Democrats will have 2 points more representation this election year than in 2008, despite the fact that opinion on Obama has tanked, despite the fact of the Conservative wave after wave after wave sweeping the country, despite all reality. And Independents will have 10 points fewer representation — in an Independent-heavy state — than in 2008.

If Independents have indeed swung 10 points away from Obama as PPP suggests (and who can believe even that after PPP proved themselves in the tank for the Democrat position?), then all is well in Ohio and November will see Obama lose that important state.

The victims of the Fort Hood massacre are not eligible for the Purple Heart, because the attack is not considered to have been made by the enemy, or an “international terrorist attack.” The Department of Defense seemingly does not want to consider Major Nidal Malik Hasan as acting as part of the enemy, because that might bring all Muslim soldiers under suspicion of being considered the enemy.

I knew this the same night I received Kimberlin’s legal threat against me, but I didn’t want to say anything until she was ready to make it public.

By the way, I received my copy of “Citizen K” in the mail today. When I return to the blog in a couple of weeks, I expect I will have read it. I am about to learn a lot more about our friend the convicted bomber.

Barney Frank (D – MA, retiring) has publicly declared Democrats should not have pushed forward with ObamaCare. While he’s absolutely right about that, he gets all the reasons wrong. But he’s not the only Democrat — outgoing or not — that has declared all or part of ObamaCare to have been the wrong decision to make.

The four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.

That article could stand for some major updating, as Obama has gone above and beyond the call of duty to add to his Chicago-style, Socialist style corruption and criminality.

And now, on to the Top Five.

In fifth place with a third again as many views as the Corruptocrat Obama article is The Dixiecrat Myth, prominently linked to in my sidebar. But that’s not how it got its viewership for the most part. For that, I can thank the people who write for the Breitbart group of blogs, who tweeted that it was a good piece to read — which caused a Twitter-and-Facebook explosion of linkage.

First off, Liberals have to completely ignore what the Democrat Party said. “Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers.” That quote is a Democrat lie. The histo-facts bear witness to that quote being a Democrat lie. And that’s why Liberals have to completely ignore the statement in pushing the Dixiecrat myth.

The Liberals’ Dixiecrat myth goes something like this:

At number 4 is Rule 5 Political Style, which is what it sounds like. It’s a Rule 5 posting (the first in the Top Ten, but not the last) with photos of political woman, most looking — well, you’ll have to see for yourself.

Now we’re to the Final Three.

The Bronze Medalist is New York 9th District Election Results, another of my live-blogging a vote, and the current one-day record holder on Truth Before Dishonor. After Anthony Wiener threw his wiener around, the seat he once held — which had been held by Democrats since Prohibition but was called a difficult seat for Democrats to win by none other than that lying mouthpiece Debbie Wasserman Schultz — went Republican.

Like this:

I’d like to know – if you blog for other reasons versus blogging intentionally to build a platform for your writing/your apostolate/your cat – and I am not saying that it’s bad to try to boost blog traffic:

1. If that’s not your primary focus, what enjoyment do you derive from blogging?

2. Do you consider yourself to be a “successful” blogger? In what sense?

3. If you could choose between having a post shared 500 times, or having one of your Internet Idols send you an email to say “I really enjoyed your post,” which would you choose?

From over at Darwin Catholic’s place, shared from a gal trying to figure out why we’d do this for no pay. *grin* Other authors might want to respond, as well; not sure if the guy has backlinks turned on.

1) Well, I find blogging is a social outlet. I’m much better at typing than I am at talking, and it’s much harder to browbeat me online when I can bring out facts and evidence from objective sources at a moment’s notice. It’s a place to say things worth saying, and that I just want to say.

2) I don’t think about it. I wish that I remembered to write more often, I wish that I could sway folks better, I wish that I thought of great lines that I think of days later, I wish that I could develop some of the posts that I think of. (Part of the addictive nature of Ricochet is that I can pop on for an instant, write a response, and leave.)

3) Definitely a nice email. I have had emails from online idols—or comments, or “hey, read this!” type links!—and I have had posts shared. One is pure pleasure, the other just makes it easier for trolls to find you.

Like this:

The Democrat National Convention is good for America. There, I said it. And I mean it. The goings on at the Democrat bash will help America understand the Democrat philosophy, and it will not help the Democrats. (By the way, watch that well-known Socialist librarian from New Zealand dance in ecstasy as he quotes Eric Boehlert of the radical Left-wing, George Soros-funded Media Matters declaring the collapse of the TEA Party — in August, 2010. A funny thing happened on the way to the demise of the TEA Party. November, 2010 happened. And Primary season 2012 happened.)

Right there for all the world to see, and in the friendly confines of the Democrat convention, was broadcast that very dangerous and Socialist/Fascist idea that we all belong to the government! And it went viral in all the wrong (for Democrats) places. Of course, Truth Before Dishonor had it. The First Street Journal picked it up. Allahpundit covered it and its aftermath, while Mary Katharine Ham showed people attending the convention loved the idea of being owned by the government or something.

“Regardless of where you live, you’re gonna be owned by someone at some point. I think the American government so far has been a fair government and I don’t necessarily hate that I’m owned by them at this point.”

And some person in that video actually had the lack of self-awareness necessary to scorn the Republicans for not believing we belong to the government. There’s a word for one person owning another. That word is slavery. We had a war that decided that issue back in the mid 19th Century. Democrats were for some people owning other people back then, and Republicans were opposed to it back then. And now, here’s more proof that Democrats are still in favor of some people owning other people while Republicans are still opposed to it.

As mentioned, there was some serious fall-out as a result of this video that the Democrat convention attendees were drooling over, like happy lemmings.

An Obama aide emails that the Charlotte host committee, not the Obama campaign, produced the video:

The video in question was produced and paid for by the host committee of the city of Charlotte. It’s neither an OFA nor a DNC video, despite what the Romney campaign is claiming. It’s time for them to find a new target for their faux outrage.

And Dan Murrey, the executive director of the Charlotte in 2012 Host Committee, said in an emailed statement:

The “Welcome to Charlotte” video was solely produced and paid for by the Host Committee’s New American City Fund, which promotes the city of Charlotte and welcomes our guests. The intent of this video was to tell the story of this region and it is completely unaffiliated with the Obama campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

Mainstream media, which shills for the Democrats, weren’t covering this hubbub. So why did Barack Obama and the Democrat National Committee have to run away from it so fast? And why did they have to lay blame on a group hand-picked by Democrat power-brokers as being responsible, while the Democrat power-brokers were Pontius Pilating it away? Because they knew the severe damage it was doing to their campaign! That they didn’t know what damage it was going to do when they were putting it together tells a big enough story in itself.

So, yes. The Democrat National Convention and the Democrat National Committee is indeed good for America, as they show her what they’re really about and she wakes up and realizes the mortal threat she’s under from the Democrat power-brokers.

$16,015,769,788,215.80

as of the end of Friday, August 31, 2012.

Taking the averages, I had projected that the national debt would cross the $16 trillion threshold on Thursday, when Barack Obama was delivering his acceptance speech to the Democrite National Convention, but the President exceeded my expectations, and got it done early.